■-'■iM 


EXPLANATION 


OP    THE 


Alphabetic-Order  Marks 


(TWO-FIGURE  TABLES) 


By  CHARLES  A.  CUTTER 


NORTHAMPTON,    MASS. 
HKRALD  JOB   PRINT, 

Tqi  1 


HBRARV 

THE  CUTTER  OPDER-MAPK5; 

WHY  AND  HOW  THEY  ARE  USED.* 


It  has  been  found    convenient    b}-    libraries   to  arrange  s< 
classes    of   books    alphabetically.       In  Biography,  for  instanc 
the  book  stand  on   the   shelves   in   the   order  of  the  names  of 
persons  whose  lives  they  relate,  one  knows  that  Adams  will  bi 
the  beginning  of  the  class  and   Washington  at  the  end  and  Jef 
son  somewhere  near  the  middle ;  and  one  can  go  to  the  shelf,  . 
get  the  life  one  wants,    without    having  to  consult  a  catalog  fi 
which  makes  a  saving  not  only  of  time,    but  of  eyes  and  patie. 
Moreover,  one  will  find  a//  the  lives  of  Washington  standing  ; 
by  side,  which  will  often  not  happen  on  an}^  other  plan.     In  Fict. 
such  an  arrangement,    either   b3^    authors'    names  or  by  titles, 
almost  a  necessity.       In  Poetry    and   the  Drama  also  it  is  usefu 
and  in  fact,  in  ever}^    class    it    is    better  than  an  arrangement  1: 
sizes,  which  merely  makes  the   shelves  look  a  little  more  orderly 
or  by  accession-number,  which  have  no  advantage  at  all.t 

But  it  is  also  found  that  the  books  must  have  some  marks  oii 
the  back  to  keep  them  in  order.  The  binders'  titles  will  not  do. 
because  they  often  do  not  contain  the  word  by  which  the  book 
should  be  arranged,  and  when  the}^  do,  the  arranger  cannot  alway.- 
see  at  a  glance  which  of  several  words  is  the  one  to  arrange  by 
Moreover,  we  want  some  brief  mark  peculiar  to  each  book,  and 
not  belonging  to  any  other  cop}^  b}'  which  to  charge  the  volume 
to  the  borrower.  Therefore,  I  letter  on  the  lower  part  of  the  back 
of  each  book  : 

1.  In  one  line,  the  letters  or  figures  that  denote  its  class 
and  sub-class. 

2.  In  another  line,  the  initial  of  the  author's  name,  followed 
by  certain  figures  (to  be  explained  later  on) ;  this  line  stands  for 
the  author's  name. 

3.  In  another  line,  the  initial  of  the  title  (used  only  when 
there  are  two  works  by  the  same  author  in  the  same  sub-class). 

4.  In  the  same  line,  when  there  is  more  than  one  copy  of 
the  same  work,  I  put  2-  for  the  second  copy,  3  for  the  third,  if 
there  is  one,  and  so  on. 

•Some  preliminary  discussions  on  tUis  subject  may  be  lound  in  "Plans  lor  uumbering  with 
especial  reference  to  fiction,  a  library  symposium."  Library  Journal,  4:38-47. 

fThe  plea  that  in  science  accession  order  assist  study  by  putting  the  older  works  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  subject  and  modern  works  at  the  end  is  true  only  in  the  rearrangement  of  an  old  library: 
In  a  new  library,  or  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  old  library,  it  would  not  be  valid  unless  libraries 
always  bought  books  in  the  order  In  which  they  are  published  ami  never  received  gifts  of  old  bb'cfks. 
ChnmolO^tra^  ofrdw,  made  up  as  b'cfoks  Usually  oomernto  a  ttbrary.  would  bte  a  mb'ttlfed  atfair, 

(2) 


Examples  in  English  Fiction. 

Class                                ,                                     Class  Class 

and                                                                    author  author, 

author.                                                               and  title.  title, 

and  copy. 

Yk                                                                         Yk  Yi- 

•036-                                                             -Dsfi-  -Dae- 

r  r4 

Defoe's                                                               Defoe's  Robinson 

Novels.                                                             Robinson  Crusoe,. 

Crusoe.  4th  copy. 

ALPHABETIC  ORDER. 

Books  on  the  shelve.^  are  kept  aljDhabeted  by  authors  by 
marking  them  with  the  initial  of  the  authors' s  family  name*  fol- 
lowed by  one  or  more  decimal  figures  assigned  according  to  a 
table  so  constructed  that  the  names  whose  initials  are  followed  by 
some  of  the  first  letters  of  the  alphabet  li^ve  the  first  numbers, 
and  those  in  which  the  initials  are  followed  by  the/^/^r  letters  have 
later  numbers. t 

E.  G.,  Garfield,  ai8  Gore,  g66 

Gerry,  G32  Grand,  G76 

Gilman,  G42  Grote,  G91 

Glover,  G51  Guizot,  G94 

If  the  books  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  these  numbers,  of 
course  they  will  be  in  alphabetical  order. 

To  use  the  table :       , 

1.  Find  the  first  few  letters  of  the  author's  name  in  the 
table;  the  figures  following  added  to  the  initial  are  the  mark. 

E.  G.,  for  the  name  Holmes  the  table  gives  Holm  73,  the  mark  is  h73. 
Lowell  (Low  95)  has  l95,  Tenney  CTeti  25),  t25.  Huxley  is  h08,  Macauley 
is  Mil,  Thackeray,  t32. 

*In  the  case  of  authorless  Books  (anonymous  works,  periodicals,  government  publications,  etc..) 
tlie  alphabetical  order  is  determined  by  the  headlngadopted  for  cataloging,  according  to  r!utter's  rules 
tor  a  dictionary  catalog.  In  biography,  when  the  Decimal  Classification  is  used,  the  name  of  tlie  sub- 
ject of  the  life  should  be  used  Instead  of  the  name  of  the  author:  in  the  Expansive  Classirtcation,  the 
name  of  the  subject  forms  part  of  the  class  mark,  as  Gerry's  Life,  Eg32. 

iTwo  sets  of  tables  have  been  issued:  the  first  with  only  U  figures  after  the  Initial;  the  second  with 
3  figures.  The  two  can  be  used  successively  in  the  same  class,  because  the  two  figures  of  the  first 
tables  are  the  same  as  the  first  two  of  the  second. 

The  figures  given  in  the  following  examples  are  from  the  two-figure  tables. 

(3) 


257648 


In  printing  a  catalog,  the  printer  should  be  cautioned  not  to  use  the  old 
style  figures,  *,  2,  3,  4,  etc.)  in  which  the  figure  one  is  the  same  as  the  "small 
capital"  letter  I. 

2.  For  names  beginning  with  A,  E,  I,  O,  U  and  S,  I  prefer 
to  use  the  first  two  letters  of  the  author's  name  instead  of  the 
initial,  and  for  names  beginning  Sc  three  letters. 

In  this  way  fewer  marks  are  used  for  the  same  amount  of  distinction. 
In  my  two  figure-tables  only  one  figure  is  used  for  A,  etc.,  the  second  letter 
taking  the  place  of  a  figure,  as  Abbott,  ab2,  Edwards,  ed9,  Ives,  ivS,  Olney, 
OlG,  Upton,  up8,  Semmes,  se5,  Scanimon,  SCA  0.  Schopenhauer,  sch6.  For 
large  classes,  a  second  figure  is  needed.  Some  persons,  however,  object  to 
the  use  of  two  letters.  For  such  Miss  Sanborn  has  prepared  a  table  of  the 
vowels  and  S  with  three  figures. 

3.  If  the  first  letters  of  the  name  do  not  occur  in  the  table 
take  the  letters  next  previous  in  the  alphabetic  order. 

E.  g.,  there  is  no  Dot  in  the  table;  for  Dotten,  therefore,  we  take  the 
number  of  Dos,  which  gives  d74;  for  Pecksniff,  the  number  of  Feb;  for 
Manners,  the  number  of  Mam.  Some  persons  prefer  to  add  at  once  another 
figure  whenever  the  author-table  does  not  give  a  figure  for  any  combination; 
it  prevents  trouble  later. 

4.  If  the  number  found  is  already  in  use,  annex  another 
decimal. 

E.  g.,  if  one  using  the  table  wishes  to  insert  Harrison  between  Harris, 
h24,  and  Harsnet,  h25,  a  third  figure  makes  Harrison  h242,  Harrisse  h245, 
Harry,  h249.  If,  again,  there  is  a  Harrison,  Alfred,  h242,  Harrison,  James, 
ma}'  be  numbered  with  a  fourth  figure,  h2424,  Harrison,  John,  h2425,  Harri- 
son, Robert,  h2427,  and  so  on.     This  can  be  carried  to  any  extent. 

In  making  such  insertions  it  is  necessary  to  consider  in  what  part  of  the 
gap  the  new  name  will  best  go,  so  as  to  leave  room  on  one  side  or  the  other 
for  future  insertions.  For  instance,  between  Bal  18  and  Bald  19  there  may 
come  in  all  the  names  beginning  with  Bala,  Balb,  Bale.  There  are  nine  num- 
bers, which  we  might  divide  thus:  Bala  1-3,  Balb  4-(i,  Bale  7-9.  Then 
Balbi  would  be  b184,  and  Balbo  b185,  Balbuena,  b186,  Balcarres,  b187,  Balch 
188.  If  Balboa  should  come  in,  it  would  go  between  b185  and  b186,  i.e., 
b1853.  I  do  not  make  it  b1851,  wishing  to  leave  room  for  another  Balbo. 
Except  in  very  large  classes,  like  Fiction  or  Biography,  one  rarel}^  gets  to  the 
fourth  figure.  But  bad  judgment  in  choosing  the  third  figure  may  hasten 
the  need  of  adding  a  fourth.     With  the  3-figure  table  one  excapes  doubt. 

Avoid  using  the  number  I  as  long  as  other  numbers  are  vacant,  because 
when  it  is  once  used  nothing  can  be  inserted  before  it;  one  cannot  put,  for 
instance,  anything  between  22  and  221.  Zero  is  not  used  because  it  might  be 
mistaken  for  the  letter  o  of  a  work-mark;  otherwise,  220  would  come  between 
22  and  221.     It  can  be  used  when  nothing  else  will  get  one  out  of  a  difficult}^. 

(4) 


5.  The  figures  are  to  be  considered  as  decimals,  and  arranged 
on  the  shelf  in  the  order  ii2,  h21,  H'iU,  h2111,  112112,  h22,  h2;:;, 
Tr238,  h24,  h3,  and  so  on. 

That  is,  all  the  numbers  beginning  with  l^  come  before  a  number  begin- 
ning with  .'J,  and  all  the  numbers  beginning  with  21,  before  any  beginning 
with  22,  and  all  beginning  with  221  before  any  beginning  with  222;  just  as 
in  a  dictionary  all  the  words  beginning  with  ab  come  before  words  l)eginning 
with  ac,  and  all  the  aca  words  come  before  the  act  words. 

[J^P^Some  persons  are  apprehensive  that  this  decimal  arrange- 
ment will  be  hard  to  use,  or  at  least  hard  to  teach  to  stupid  assist- 
ants and  (when  the  ptiblic  are  allowed  to  go  to  the  shelves)  to  a 
public  unwilling  to  take  the  trouble  to  comprehend.  It  may  be 
so  sometimes;  I  can  only  say  that  I  never  had  any  difficulty  with 
any  one,  bo}'  or  girl,  man  or  woman,  when  the  arrangement  was 
explained  as  it  is  above.  But  if  this  is  considered  a  serious 
objection  to  the  use  of  these  author-marks^  the  difficult}^  can  be 
entirely  avoided  by  using  two  figures  with  the  initial  in  all  cases, 
treating  them  as  ordinals,  and  when  two  names  are  to  be  repre- 
sented by  the  same  combination,  so  that  subdivision  becomes 
necessary,  starting  a  new  series  of  ordinals  either  from  1  to  9  or 
from  11  to  99,  by  putting  a  point  after  the  first  two  figures,  e.  g., 
H24.1,  or  H24.il.  The  stupidest  attendant  could  not  fail  to  com- 
prehend the  order  H34,  H34.1,  H34.2,  H34.3,  H34.4,  and  so  on. 
As  it  would  be  awkward  to  use  two  decimal  points  (H34.2.1, 
H34.2.2),  it  would  be  well  to  use  two  figures  alter  the  decimal 
point  in  very  large  collections,  as  P'iction  and  Biography,  thus  : 
H34,  H34.il,  H34.12,  H34.13,  etc. 

Of  course  this  ordinal  method  does  not  allow  infinite  inter- 
calation. A  time  will  come  when  some  new  name  cannot  be 
inserted  in  its  proper  order, .  because  its  number  is  alread}^  occu- 
pied. Btit  a  notation  consisting  of  an  initial  followed  by  four 
characters  provides  places  for  so  many  names  that  this  misfortune 
will  not  occur  soon  or  frequently.  And  when  it  does  occur  the 
approximate  alphabetical  arrangement  that  will  here  and  there 
result  is  very  much  better  than  no  alphabetic  order  at  all. 

Further  marks:* 

6.  On  the  shelves  three  alphabetical  series  should  be  made, 
O  including  all  books  25  cm.  high  or  less,    O    between   25  and  30 

*For  a  discussion  of  other  methods,  see  Lihrary  Notes,  vol,  3. 

(5) 


F  over  30.  These  will  be  indicated  b}^  the  sign  that  seperates  the 
class  mark  from  the  author-aad-book  mark.  •  for  O  and  smaller- 
sizes,  -f-  for  Q,  II  for  F. 

In  small  libraries  it  is  best  to  make  only  one  series  of  books  under  each 
division;  the  few  books  that  are  too  large  for  the  shelves  can  be  turned  down; 
very  large  books  can  be  kept  in  some  separate  case.  But  in  a  library  of  size, 
and  especially  in  a  library  that  has  many  old  books,  there  are  likely  to  be  so 
many  quartos  and  folios  that  provision  must  be  made  to  keep  them  by  them- 
selves and  yet  in  juxtaposition  with  the  smaller  books  of  their  class. 

It  is  well  always  to  mark  the  books  for  O  and  F  with  these  distinctive 
marks,  but  these  two  sizes  may  often  be  mixed  advantageously  in  a  single 
alphabet  on  the  shelves,  especially  where  there  are  onl^'  one  or  two  folios 
with  many  quartos,  or  one  or  two  quartos  with  many  folios.  They  can  be 
separated  when  there  are  enough  of  each  class  to  make  it  worth  while. 

The  three  size-marks  are  for  marking  the  catalog  and  the  back  of  the 
title-page;  they  are  not  used  for  lettering  the  backs  of  the  books;  in  a  majority 
of  cases  the  book's  size  is  sufficiently  shown  to  the  attendant  who  puts  them 
up  by  the  fact  that  a  Q  book  must  not  go  on  an  O  shelf. 

7.  In  numbering  Q  and  F  books  a  single  figure  will  usually 
be  enough,  because  there  will  usually  be  few  books  of  those  sizes 
in  auy  class,  and  therefore  fewer  marks  are  needed  to  distinguisb 
them;  often  the  initial  alone  would  be  enough  in  F, 

8.  Different  books  by  the  same  author  in  the  same  class 
are  distinguished  by  work-marks  consisting  of  the  first  letter  or 
letters  of  the  catch-title  after  a  thin  space. 

E.  g.,  Dickens's  Chimes,  d55c;  Christmas  Carol,  d55ch;  Cricket  on  the 
Hearth,  d55cr;    David  Copperfield,  d55d;    Dombey  and  Son,  d55do. 

9.  Other  copies  or  other  editions  are  noted  by  adding  2  or 
8  or  -I,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  the  work-mark. 

K.  g.,  another  edition  of  Dombey  and  Son,  d55do2. 

10.  The  special  mark  for  translations,  for  use  ui  large 
libraries  or  in  large  special  collections  in  a  small  libr2.ry^  is  the 
initial  of  the  lanuage,  a  capital  letter  added  (after  a  size-mark) 
to  the  author-mark. 

(6) 


\L  t^.,  Goethe's  dramatische  WerWe  '  gSo 

Dramatic  works  '  055  '  ]*, 

CEuvres  dramatiques  "  g55  '  l*"-' 

Faust  ■  g55  f 

Faust,  in  English  '  g55  i       I 

11.     If  there  are    several    translations    distinguisli    them  b}' 
adding  the  initial  of  the  translator's   name  to  the  langnage-mark. 


H.  g., 

,  Faust, 

in  the  original 

1 

Ci55-  F 

- 

English  by 

Austin 
Bern ays 
Blackie 

g55  F 

■  g55  F  ■ 

■  g55  F  ' 

Ea 
Eb 
Ebl 

Bowen 
Brooks 

■  g55  f 
g55  f 

•  Ebo 

•  Ebr 

" 

French 

Blaze  de 

Burv 

■  g55  f 

Fb 

Italian 

Maffei 

(;55  F 

■  Im 

These  marks  are  long.  But  il  must  be  remembered  that  the  need  for 
such  marks  does  not  occur  at  all  in  a  small  collection  of  books,  and  very  rarely 
in  a  large  one.  Moreover,  if  anyone  wants  to  avoid  them  altogether,  he  can 
do  so  by  giving  up  the  exact  arrangement  of  versions,  and  simply  numbering 
texts  and  translations  in  numerical  order  as  they  are  received,  which  is  just 
as  well  where  there  is  no  access  to  the  shelves,  and  almost  as  well  even  wher^ 
there  is,  until  the  number  of  editors  and  translations  becomes  very  large,  as 
it  would  among  the  classics  in  a  college  library,  or  in  the  case  of  Shakespeare, 
Goethe    and  Dante,  in  any  large  general  library. 

12.  In  Biography,  which  is  to  be  arranged  by  names  of 
the  subjects  of  the  lives,  in  the  Decimal  classification  distinguish 
different  author's  by  adding  their  initials.  In  the  Expansive 
classification  Biograpln*  is  treated  like  any  other  class. 

E.  g  ,  Chadwick's  Defoe     In  the  1).  C.  .  920  D3Gc.    In  the  \i.  C      liirMi  '  C 
Morey's  Defoe  In  the  1).  C.     920  D36m    In  the  Iv  C.      Ei)3()  '  M 

Wilson's  Defoe  In  the  D.  C.     020  DSGw    In  the  Jv  C.     Ed3()  "  W 

13.  When  in  a  large  collection  the  number  of  editions  of  a 
single  work  exceeds  or  is  likely  to  exceed  9,  the  different  editions 
may  be  distinguished  by  adding  the  3^ear  of  ptiblication  (usualh^ 
of  the  first  volume,  if  there  are  more  than  one),  instead  of  a  num- 
ber 2,  3,  4. 

E.  g.,  Paradise  Lost,  ed.  of  1667 

reprint  of  same 
"       ed.  of  1732 
ed.  of  1754 

(7) 


■  M  64  P  ■ 

1667 

■  M  64  p 

1667  ■ 

2 

■  M  64  P  ' 

1732 

■  M  64  P 

1754 

14.  If  it  is  desired  to  keep  a  commentary  on  any  work 
immediately  after  the  work  add  to  the  work-mark  a  capital  "Y 
and  (if  necessary)  the  initial  of  the  commentator.  For  dictiona- 
ries and  concordances  add  "Z. 

!•).  i^-.,  I'rehse's   W'orterlnch    zu    Reuler's  sammtlichen  werkeu  would  be 
R.'ilZ  ;  Clarke's    Shakspere   concordance  lin  a  library  which  has  no  special 
mark  for  Shakspere  ^  "Shi  'Zc"). 

The  varions  marks  then  are  : 

Class  --------  as  V 

Size  -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -  as  ■  or  -|-  or  II 

Anthor       --------  as  d55 

Work  --------  as  D 

Copy  of  edition  -         -         -         -         -         -  as  2,  3,  4 

"  ''       when  very  many         -         -,        -  as  1887 

Translation  -         -         -         -         as  (into  English)  .E 

Other  copies  of  translation  -         -  *       -  -  as  "£2,  'E3 

Translation  b}/  another  hand  as  (d  being  initial  of 

translator's  name)  "Ed 

Another  copy  of  this  other  translation        -         -  as  ■Ed2 

Comnientar}^  or  other  illustrative  work       -         -  as  "Y 

Dictionary  -         -         -         -         -         -         -  asZ 

Another         as  (p  being  initial  of  anthor  of  dictionary  "Zp 

For  a  fuller  explanation,  see  Cutter's  Expansive  classification,  \)i.  1,  pp. 
139-160.  'J'his  includes  a  way  to  mark  a  large  collection  of  Greek  and  Latin 
classics  (such  as  would  be  found  in  a  college  library)  first  published  in  the 
Library  Journal^  1 1  :280-28<).  Some  improvements  will  be  found  in  the 
Expansion  classification,  7th,  class  Y,  p.  35,  36.  See  also,  full  scheme  for 
marking  a  Shakespeare,  Dante,  Goethe  Moliere,  Milton  collection,  in  the 
Expansive  classification,  7th,  class  Y,  p.  49-74,  enlarged  from  Library 
Journai^  9  :  137-139. 


f 


(8) 


r'^^Mi^Mhf^mm 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDE7m313? 


